Everybody has a happy place.

If I were to ask you where your happy place is, would you have just one? Numerous? I myself have 3.

See? Magical.

1) Our family cabin on the Shuswap Lake, it's absolutely magical.
2) Jake - I know, how cliche, but ask me if I care ;) and...
3) the Health food store.
Diverse, eh?

When it comes to health food; supplements, what minerals and nutrients and vitamins do what for our body, how do better absorb them by pairing them with other foods/nutrients, I can't get enough - I'm fascinated. Jake was watching baseball the other day and looks over at me to ask what I was doing on my phone. "Reading up about the benefits of Coconut oil again, I forgot a few".. He looked at me with the same enthusiasm as if I had just told him I was brushing up on grade 11 chemistry, but I find it just so interesting. If you were to browse my google searches, you'd find over 75% matching "Health benefits of _________" .. the other 25% would include how to wear specific articles of clothing, product reviews (I google reviews on EVERYTHING before I buy it, almost obsessively), and lastly but almost most importantly, puppies.. Doesn't everyone? But anyway, back to my top 3, I can spend an hour easily in health food stores, looking at different products, spices, supplements, etc. In fact, I did this just two days ago. I had to go in and get bee pollen and chia seeds and ended up cruising the aisles for half an hour before finally tearing myself away. I also ended up buying like 4 more things, but that's usually just par for the course.

Chia seeds have become a daily staple for me. They're chock full of wonderful ingredients like Omega 3's (great for hair, skin & anti-inflammatory purposes), tons of anti-oxidants, minerals such as magnesium, iron, potassium and calcium, fiber galore and pack a pretty powerful protein punch - wow alliteration, that's just how excited I am. Not only that, they have a pretty handy clean-eating hack if, like me recently, you've had a little too much fun on naughty foods and went a little (lot) bit too lax on exercising: they keep you full for hours AND are a serious helper in digestion. These little powerhouses expand almost 10x their size when mixed with liquids, meaning they fill up in your belly, keep things moving along (ahem), and offer you a healthy way to get back down to normal. In the morning I have been mixing 2 cups of water (half coconut half regular) with 1.5 tbsp chia seeds, letting it sit about 10 minutes to expand, shake the shit out of it to break all the seed clumps up, and then chug the whole thing. The texture may get you a little bit, but I don't even notice anymore.

Hello my little frog babies.. Now doesn't that make it seem way more appetizing!? :P

And because I just love weird shit, if you add 1 tsp of bee pollen to your mix like I did, well you've just made yourself a clean, green energy elixir - drink responsibly ;)

 If I'm in the mood for a little sweet something that I can feel good about, I'll mix 2 tbsp chia seeds, about 1/2 cup cashew milk and a drop (literally) of english toffee stevia and mix vigorously . I say literally a drop of stevia because truthfully I hate it and the chemical taste, but one drop is enough to do the job without me noticing the after taste. Let sit minimum 20 minutes and you have yourself a yummy little powerfood pudding. Add some fruit and you have a wonderful breakfast as well.

To break it down even further, here's a quick nutritional breakdown of these little buggers:
1 ounce (2 tbsp) contains: 137 calories, one gram of saturated fat, 11 grams of fiber, four grams of protein, 177 milligrams of calcium, and 4.9 grams of omega-3 fatty acids, 23% of your daily recommended magnesium and 12% of your iron - helllo.